The present invention Hosta ‘Hanky Panky’, relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hosta, botanically known as a Hosta hybrid, hereinafter referred to as ‘Hanky Panky’.
The inventor discovered the new cultivar, ‘Hanky Panky’, in summer of 1999 in a tissue culture lab in Waseca, Minn. ‘Hanky Panky’ originated as a sport of Hosta ‘Striptease’ (unpatented) that arose during micropropagation. ‘Hanky Panky’ was selected for its unique variegated leaf pattern. The spring foliage of ‘Hanky Panky’ has dark green centers and wide light green margins with a stripe of white that occurs at the junction of the center and the margin. The foliage undergoes several color and pattern changes as the season progresses and matures to a pattern having lighter green to yellow centers with a deep green area replacing the white stripe area with greyed-yellow margins. ‘Striptease’, the parent plant, differs from ‘Hanky Panky’ in having light green centers with dark margins and is similar in having the white stripe pattern between the margins and centers.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by in vitro propagation in Waseca, Minn. in fall of 2002. Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by division and tissue culture has shown that the unique features of ‘Hanky Panky’ are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.